India Was Planning Missile Strikes After Post-Balakot Dogfight Between IAF-PAF: Pakistan’s Ex-Foreign Secretary

Pakistan's former foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar has claimed that India was planning to fire missiles at 'two or three' Pakistani cities in immediate aftermath of Indian Air Force’s Balakot strike and the ensuring dogfight with Pakistani Air Force, when tensions between both the countries were running high, reports Sputnik News.

"As per our information India was preparing a missile attack on two or three cities of Pakistan and our only reaction was to not only inform India directly but also inform India through its friends that we would be climbing the escalation ladder, which we should avoid under all circumstances", Khokhar said.

Khokar during his bureaucratic tenure had worked as an envoy to India, US and China. He claimed that a certain degree of concern among the people on both sides still prevails and hoped for de-escalation.

Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had quoted an unnamed senior US official during an election rally in Gujarat last month to claim that on the second day of the post-Balakot dogfight, India had readied 12 missiles for attack in case the situation deteriorated.

“Pakistan announced to return the pilot on the second day; else it was going to be a 'qatal ki raat (a night of slaughter). This is not me who is saying, these are the words of a senior American official. I will speak about it when the time comes", said Prime Minister Modi.